Chaos

 

There is a LOT of chaos in our house.  I just happened to snap this picture, but it is soooo typical.  C getting the phone.  N up on the counter.  L getting who knows what out of the sink. 

Here are a few of the one time things that have happened this week alone, along with some of the other ongoing messes in my world...

• N dumped half a box of fruity pebbles out, luckily "into" a bowl. 
• C ate the leg off of an ornament Z made last year, then Z decided he should follow suit and ate the other leg off. 
• C and N got into a foil covered plate of Christmas cookies...right after we ate breakfast. 
• C finds a way to get to ANY "cra-ca" he can. 
• Z colored a friend of his green, "like Frankenstein" in a Christmas card picture. 
• Z threw a cup of water on N. 
• Craft supplies litter my floors.   
• Only 1/3 of my tree still has ornaments on it. 
• Books are torn to pieces and left all over the floors. 
• I have been having to clean up food prep stuff before the kids get out of their chairs, or they are sticking fingers in peanut butter, digging pickles out of jars, dumping chips into yogurt, etc.
• Silverware, pots and pans have been found in the living room, dining room, kitchen, and basement.  They would be in the bedrooms and bathrooms if the doors were open, but they MUST stay shut.  
• They can all get onto Z's top bunk...only one has fallen off so far. 
• C dumps baskets.  Just walk up, dump it out, and walk away. 
• More, but it's not in my head right this second...

I walk from one room to the next, saying, "N, get off the counter. Z, did you shut your bedroom door?  C, it is not snacktime, you may not have more food.  L, I can't read to you right this second.  N, quit stealing toys.  L, don't push him.  Z, we don't have modeling clay, soda bottles, and wooden skewers to make a bottle rocket right now.  C, don't dump that bucket!"  It is NONSTOP and exhausting.

 

I think it has gotten worse because we have been stuck inside (wintertime) for the past month or so.  It has really escalated in the past week.  The little boys have started fighting, especially hitting and pushing, like crazy.  Here is a typical situation: 

 

"Kid one, you may not crawl up on that.  Please get down."  Kid one looks at me, screams and yells in complaint, then looks around for the first kid he can find to take his anger out on.  First kid runs up to second kid and wallops him in the head.  Second kid looks up in surprise and sometimes hits back, but if the first kid has taken off already, the second kid looks for the third kid and hits him.  Third kid hits second kid, then shoves the first kid.  First kid shoves third kid.  Second kid hits first kid.  And on and on and on.  Multiple times a day.  There is screaming and tears involved also.  There often is biting.  Sometimes a kid has an object (say, a train) in his hand as he hits another kid in the head.  Sometimes the hitting is unprovoked.  Sometimes Z is involved...he might try to break it up, which makes it worse.  Or sometimes he is the one that provokes the hitting.  I am trying to think if one of the boys is worse than the others about this, but I don't think that there is.  N is probably the worst, but not always.  It is just a lot of hitting and pushing and crying and screaming.  End of story.  And when I think about it, or relate it to someone, it actually is pretty funny, but in the moment...ugly.

 

I haven't quite figured out how to discipline it.  Nate suggested discipling the first kid, but I don't always know who started it.  I always stop and discipline biting and hitting with an object.  I tend to ignore some of the other stuff, because I figure they have to learn to deal with each other.  Regardless, it is hard and ugly.  Thankfully, they don't fight like this with any other kids or with each other like this if we are not home.  Typical...worst stuff at home...but I prefer that, I guess. 

 

That's all I can say about that for the time being...it is a struggle here, but then we have good days...we'll learn.  More on the subject if/when I learn how to deal with it better!